Test Partnership Stats For India In Their Winning Causes Against Australia: The 5th Wicket Adventure

With the help of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane's 5th wicket partnership, India put a fighting target for Australia in the Bengaluru Test

After a stunning defeat against Australia in the first Test at Pune, India dramatically snatched a victory in the second Test at Bengaluru. It was no doubt that Ravichandran Ashwin’s heroic bowling performance was the biggest reason for India’s this victory. But it is also not negligible that the 5th wicket partnership between Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane during India’s second innings was also played a very important role for India’s memorable victory.

After suffering a dual batting collapse in the first Test of the series at Pune, the scenario for Indian batting had not hugely changed in the first innings of the Bengaluru Test.

But in the second innings of the Bengaluru Test, India’s batting scenario was looking slightly better. Thanks to the 5th wicket partnership for 118 runs between Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, India put a fighting target of 188 runs for Australia to win the Test match which later Australia failed to reach that target as they were bowled out for just 112 runs.

With this emphatic victory, India made a comeback into the Test series as they leveled the series by 1-1 and 2 more Tests to go.

Now in this article, we are talking about some important stats on India’s Test partnerships for each wickets against Australia, when India achieved a victory.

Interestingly, India’s 5th wicket partnership contribution has always played the most important role in winning a Test match against Australia. We will never forget the two best Test matches for India against Australia where they had snatched victories against the ‘baggy green’, which were: 2001 Eden Test and 2003 Adelaide Test. In the both occasions, 5th wicket partnership between Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman had taken the most important part for India’s victories.

Now we will look out the stats which can prove the statement.

(Note: All the following stats are updated up to 7th March 2017)

In overall: Averages (descending order) of India’s each wicket Test partnership against Australia for a winning cause

India’s 5th wicket partnership is top of this list. Here are look at the stats:

Wicket no.of partnership

Innings

Total Runs scored

Average

Highest partnership

100/50

5th

41

2390

62.89

376

8/7

1st

46

2759

59.97

289

10/8

3rd

46

2222

49.37

308

7/9

4th

45

1674

40.82

146

5/6

2nd

46

1875

40.76

370

3/8

6th

38

1065

28.78

119

1/7

7th

37

982

27.27

109

2/5

8th

36

664

18.97

127

1/2

9th

35

566

18.25

140

1/2

10th

30

238

8.20

42

0/0

In India’s home conditions: Averages (descending order) of India’s each wicket Test partnership against Australia for a winning cause

Like the previous overall stats, 5th wicket partnership is also in here. Here are look at the stats:

Wicket no.of partnership

Innings

Total Runs scored

Average

Highest partnership

100/50

5th

32

1847

63.68

376

7/4

1st

37

2241

60.56

289

9/5

3rd

37

1703

47.30

308

5/6

2nd

37

1706

46.10

370

3/8

4th

36

1346

42.06

146

4/5

6th

29

828

29.57

119

1/5

7th

28

679

24.25

109

2/3

8th

28

511

18.92

127

1/1

9th

27

420

17.50

140

1/1

10th

24

218

9.47

42

0/0

In Australia’s home conditions: Averages (descending order) of India’s each wicket Test partnership against Australia for a winning cause

Even on the Australian soil, India’s 5th wicket partnership displayed the vital roles for India’s victory. Here are look at the stats:

Wicket no.of partnership

Innings

Total Runs scored

Average

Highest partnership

100/50

5th

9

543

60.33

303

1/3

3rd

9

519

57.66

139

2/3

1st

9

518

57.55

165

1/3

7th

9

303

37.87

81

0/2

4th

9

328

36.44

125

1/1

6th

9

237

26.33

59

0/2

9th

8

146

20.85

51

0/1

8th

8

153

19.12

51

0/1

2nd

9

169

18.77

49

0/0

10th

6

20

3.33

8

0/0

In India’s first innings: Averages (in descending order) of India’s each wicket Test partnership against Australia for a winning cause

Here opening partnership is far away than the 4th and 5th partnership. Look at the following stats:

Wicket no.of partnership

Innings

Total Runs scored

Average

Highest partnership

100/50

1st

11

713

64.81

192

3/3

4th

11

427

38.81

146

1/2

5th

11

394

35.81

142

1/1

3rd

11

338

30.72

139

2/0

7th

11

317

28.81

109

1/0

6th

11

316

28.72

119

1/2

2nd

11

292

26.54

87

0/3

8th

11

225

20.45

127

1/0

9th

11

103

10.30

40

0/0

10th

10

39

3.90

15

0/0

In India’s second innings: Averages (descending order) of India’s each wicket Test partnership against Australia for a winning cause

5th wicket partnership is showing his power at here. Look at the stats:

Wicket no.of partnership

Innings

Total Runs scored

Average

Highest partnership

100/50

5th

14

1151

82.21

303

5/3

1st

14

1125

80.35

289

4/4

3rd

14

963

68.78

308

3/3

2nd

14

757

54.07

370

2/1

4th

14

535

38.21

125

1/3

6th

14

419

32.23

75*

0/3

8th

13

294

22.61

61

0/2

7th

13

281

21.61

81

0/2

9th

13

219

18.25

140

1/0

10th

12

151

12.58

42

0/0

In India’s third innings: Averages (descending order) of India’s each wicket Test partnership against Australia for a winning cause

Again the 5th wicket partnership is showing his strength. Here are look at the below stats:

Wicket no.of partnership

Innings

Total Runs scored

Average

Highest partnership

100/50

5th

10

697

77.44

376

2/2

1st

11

743

67.54

182

3/1

3rd

11

656

59.63

113

2/4

4th

11

420

42.00

127

2/0

2nd

11

387

35.18

72

0/1

7th

9

284

31.55

108

1/2

6th

9

257

28.55

79

0/2

9th

8

127

15.87

51

0/1

8th

9

118

14.75

41

0/0

10th

7

37

5.28

16

0/0

In India’s fourth innings: Averages (descending order) of India’s each wicket Test partnership against Australia for a winning cause

Surprisingly the 9th wicket partnership is showing pretty good according to the averages, but top order batting is showing their strengths if we watch out on the total runs scored.

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